Monday, January 30, 2006
Elpida Memory Inc. said it has reached an agreement with the Justice Department to plead guilty in a DRAM price-fixing scheme. Under the agreement, the total fine is $84 million.
Tokyo-based Elpida admitted to violations of U.S. antitrust laws in connection with its DRAM sales from April 1999 through June 2002. Included are sales made by NEC Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. prior to the commencement of Elpida's sales operation.
Elpida will pay $9.5 million of the fine directly. The company did not elaborate on how it would pay for the rest of the fine.
In 2002, Hynix, Infineon, Micron, Samsung and other memory makers confirmed that the Justice Department had undertaken an industry-wide investigation into alleged price-fixing schemes.
Last year, Germany's Infineon Technologies AG agreed to pay a $160 million fine, and four lower-level employees face fines and prison sentences.
Also last year, South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor Inc. agreed to pay a $185 million fine in connection with the U.S. antitrust probe.
One sales manager from Micron Technology Inc. has been fined and faces a prison sentence. Another sales manager, from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., has been implicated.
Last year, Samsung pleaded guilty to a one-count felony charge of conspiring with other DRAM makers to fix the price of memory chips sold in the U.S. The company agreed to pay a $300 million fine — the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in U.S. history.
By: DocMemory
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